Groceries
by bononk
Summary: Emil is lost at a grocery store during its grand opening but is quick to ask for help from a stranger. He wants to keep his helper, and his wish is fulfilled several months later. (DenNor and Anko Family)
1. Chapter 1

The grocery store isn't a place you would normally consider as crowded. It's rather easy to get in and out of aisles without having to weave through threads of people. But grand openings of a popular store in a town of twenty-thousand can be difficult. This particular grocery store is normally a half an hour drive to the nearby town that has it. Construction of that store finished last night and opened today. It's flooded with human bodies in need of food.

Lukas wouldn't be here on a regular day. He often tried to avoid grand openings by going to other stores that sold similar products. However, when he searched the fridge for coffee cream, he realized there was no more butter. He was shocked since couldn't remember running out of his precious dairy product. He also had just enough coffee cream for his morning drink, thus forcing him to look for other grocery items that were needed. He and his adopted son left to Walmart shortly after lunch.

"Go ahead and pick any cereal you want. I'm going to get some oatmeal." Lukas said to Emil. He hated separating from his only child, but separating meant they would home sooner.

Emil let himself be carried out of the shopping cart. He hugged his father's leg then quickly made his way to the cereal. Emil hoped to go home quickly, so he grabbed his favorite cereal and ran back to his dad. The thing was, he couldn't find him. There were so many people that pinpointing a certain person at his height would be nearly impossible. He sucked in some confidence in order to ask the man next to him for help. He tugged on the man's black coat and the man looked down in question.

"Mister, will you please help me find my daddy?"

The man nodded happily. "Of course I will kiddo!" He crouched down to Emil's height to let the boy on his back.

"I'm Emil. What's your name? I don't want to get in trouble for talking to a stranger." Emil rambled as he climbed onto the taller man. He struggled, but at least he had some help getting onto the man's shoulders.

"I'm Mathias, but go ahead and call me Mat if ya' can't pronounce it."

* * *

 _Hey guys! This is my first anko family and Hetalia fic so I apologize if anyone is out of character. Sweden will probably be the most in character since I'm kind of an awkward dork myself. And Sweden might not even appear, so expect characters to not be in character._

 _I have a headcanon that Iceland had similar personality to Denmark as a kid so don't go to the comments telling me he's out of character. There's another one I have saying that Iceland rambles when he's talking to a complete stranger. And another one where kid Iceland uses Mister and Miss when addressing people he doesn't know the name of._

 _I don't know if Norway actually uses coffee creamer but I think it makes coffee taste better so there you go._

 _This story is based off of a AU that I saw on dorkdenmark's Tumblr. It was an anko family AU where Iceland gets lost at the store and brings back Denmark to Norway. The AU continues but I won't spoil it for it you all. Oh and it stops at certain point so, if you've read the AU, please don't complain that I'm still writing. I plan on continuing even if it ended._

 _The whole grand opening of Walmart is based off of what happened in the in the town I live in. Before the Super Walmart was built last year in January, you would have to make a half an hour drive to get to a nearby city that had one. Sometimes our family would pass by that same Walmart and be like_ "Remember when we would go there?" _while we drive on to Ross, T.J. Maxx, and Kohl's shopping area. Now we just have to wait for the other three stores as well as In 'n Out to be built._

 _Enough rambling for now. See you next chapter!_


	2. Chapter 2

Mathias enjoyed the company of the cute and energetic toddler. His face held a happy grin as he and the young Emil talked to pass time. Emil would occasionally try to point the way to the cereal aisle, though he probably has no idea where it is. His available hand kept a grip on Mathias's golden hair. They walked and talked for several minutes until they came across the aisle for the second time, the first time it was passed because a detour had to be made.

"I don't see him!" Emil exclaimed with the hint of crying in his voice. He sniffled and a gasped a few times. "Mathie where is daddy?"

"I don't know kiddo." Mathias said, ruffling Emil's hair in the process. "But we're going to find him so that you'll be happy." He added.

"W-what about you? Y-you should be happy too!"

"You first." Mathias replied. It has always been his goal to make sure everyone else is happy, even if meant sacrificing his own happiness. "We're going to make you happy first." He added with a sincere smile.

He walked away from the cereal aisle to make his way to one of purchasing lines. He told the cashier about finding Emil and the unsuccessful finding of his father. The cashier nodded at the information he received. He seemed to be sympathetic to Lukas, the kind of sympathy a dad would give another dad.

"I call him on the intercom when after I finish with this customer." The cashier promised, Tino is his name according to the tag on his shirt.

Tino closed the lane after the brown haired lady paid, explaining that his shift had ended while the woman was purchasing her items. He called Lukas over to lane 3 for his son as quickly as he could. Emil pretty much bounced with excitement when his dad came rushing over. Mathias let the boy down so that family could reunite after probably ten minutes.

Lukas smiled now that he held is only child in his arms. "Let's pay for our stuff and go home." He whispered in the boy's ear.

"No!" Emil exclaimed as he pretty much jumped out of his guardian's clutch. He hurried over to Mathias and grabbed onto his leg. "Mathie helped me daddy! I want to keep him please."

Lukas hadn't realized someone helped his son get here, or that he was still there. His face calmed into its usual emotionless expression. He's painfully shy, so he didn't know what to say to the man. He let his thoughts flow until Emil shattered them.

"I want to take him home." Emil said with a determine face and tone of voice.

Lukas always found it difficult to say 'no' to anyone or anything he saw as cute. Such things included his son, of course, and the stuffed animals no one knew he still had. He would often pass pet shops and find it hard to look away from the adorable baby animals. He knew he had to tell Emil that the man couldn't stay with them. He probably has his own family somewhere else in town. People were beginning to stare, but Lukas just couldn't find the will to say it.

"I can't live with you, but I'll visit for dinner." The man, Mathie according to Emil, said. Both the young boy and grown man looked to Lukas for any kind of rejection. He kept his face void of emotion. He felt himself nodding in approval.

* * *

 _Two follows in less than a day of this being on the search menu is incredible! To be honest I didn't expect anyone to follow this at all. I'm a shy nerd why are there people doing something I don't deserve?_

 _But you're probably expecting Denmark to die, right? Well if that's what you want then-_ NO! _Den is precious and will survive this one. I will_ try _to make sure he lives until the very end. And if he does die it'll be will be a natural death while he's peacefully sleeping._

 _The lady who was paying for her stuff is Hungary. She won't appear again unless she's needed as like a side character or something. There will be other extras if the story calls for it. I'm also thinking of adding in the Faroe Islands and Greenland, but they won't be necessary to the plot. Or maybe they will I'm not sure since there isn't anything official about them that I know of. If you guys demand them to be important, I'll design an appearance for them and find a way to fit them._

 _See you next chapter!_ ** _-APH-DONUTS_**


	3. Chapter 3

Mathias grew up as an only child. His parents were always too busy to notice his social needs. He would stay in his room for hours while he played with imaginary siblings. He was seven by the time his parents finished paying off the late bills and decided to have another child. Even with a sibling, he would be alone until his brother was old enough. Mathias continued to spend time with the siblings he imagined for himself.

He hopes that Emil won't have to grow up like he did. He hopes the boy's family will give him their full attention. A child should grow up with someone around their own age. They need someone to talk to, someone they'll understand.

Mathias didn't realize that Emil doesn't have a mother. When he walked into the house, he found only three residents: Emil, Mr. Bondevik, and their kitten who had been curled on Emil's lap. Lukas demanded Mathias to not mention the mother. He said that doing so will cause Emil to cry. Mathias didn't what happened, but he decided it would be best to not force it out. After all, he'd only met them several hours earlier. It wasn't his place to question anything.

It also turned out that the food was still cooking. The aroma of cooking meat and stew had hit him hard when he walked in. Emil had pulled Mathias away before the man had time to ask what it is on the stove. The scent that followed could only keep him waiting and guessing.

The front yard of the house is decorated with beautiful flowers. Bushes ran around the perimeter of the porch and property. A few branches of the neighbor's tree hung over into the front lawn. Daisies danced by the walkway to house.

The house itself seemed rather large at first glance. Perhaps it held a somewhat larger-than-normal attic. As Emil pulled Mathias around, he found that it is a cozy one story home with no noticeable attic entrances. Emil did show off that his room sat across from the basement though.

Emil's room is rather clean for someone his age. A small pile of dirty clothes lay in the far right corner. In the center are most of his building blocks stacked in a way that makes them seem like they'd been knocked over. Some of the blocks are piled around the stack while the rest were in a bag. The bed had been pressed against the back wall, most likely to make room for play. Opposite of the bed is a rather small closest with a dresser next to it. The closet is opened, revealing an opened bin full of children's toys. The dresser has a few cat toys and photographs on top.

Emil forced Mathias on the bed without any explanations or demands. Mathias waited as the toddler went to the closest. He looked through the bin for something to play with. He found two wooden horses almost at the bottom of it all. One is golden like the sun. The other is a white like that of a daisy. Mathias received the golden horse because its color reminds Emil of the man's hair.

The two only had several minutes for play before the food finished cooking. It still smelled of fresh meat and stew. Mathias still couldn't guess what kind, but the scent lead him down the hall to a rather small dining area. The table seats a family of five. One of the five seats held a high chair on it, but Emil is tall enough to not use it. The other four have fall colored seat cushions to go with the brown chairs and table. Mathias allowed the other two to sit first in order to avoid sitting in their preferred seats.

Lukas served food for Emil before the meal started, so the toddler was halfway done with his food before the adults started. The three conversed throughout the meal as if they've been a happy family for years.

* * *

 _This might end up being a rather quick fic when it comes to updates. Like when did this laptop get fixed? Last week I think and I got the first to chapters done in one day, so we'll see how this thing goes. Hopefully it'll update so that you guys aren't upset that it's taking too long or too fast._

 _I'm currently thinking about putting Greenland and the Faroe Islands as Den's children. That wouldn't be historically correct, but I'll be inaccurate for the storyline. If enough people get butt hurt about it, then I'll just leave them out. Should they come into the story I'll tell you who is who at the bottom of the chapter where I usually ramble._

 _Let me know if these things are annoying so that I know to shorten them or leave them out completely._

 _See ya' next chapter!  
 **-APH-DONUTS**_


	4. Chapter 4

The next few months came and went like lightning, a flash before Mathias's eyes. One day a boy asked for help to find his dad in the grocery store and the next he was waiting to open gifts at their house on Christmas Day. At first it was all of Emil's fault. The young boy grew a liking towards the man so he would invite him to different things. Eventually the two adults became friends and invited each other's family to family oriented things. Such as now, when two grown men watched as three children chased each other around the house to get their mind off of the colorfully wrapped presents.

The two adults wait for the clock to strike midday. They chat as they do in order to avoid becoming too impatient in waiting for a third family who is supposed to arrive before then. As the two stay hold, Lukas realizes something he should've addressed before. Something that causes his heart to either flutter or run in place. A feeling he didn't want to acknowledge because it brought him great loss the last time. He lost track of time and conversation the more he thought about it.

The doorbell spring him out of it. He stood with great force that he almost tripped over his feet before Mathias caught him. Lukas forced himself to hold the redness gradually spreading across his pale cheeks. Mathias himself is rather pink as well. His smile remained friendly and wide, giving him the impression of a happy puppy. Or is that loving and wide?

Lukas shook his head and pushed away towards the front door. He couldn't be thinking such silly high school things.

Behind the door stands a rather tall man. Perhaps several inches taller than Mathias. Next to him is a shorter man. Probably a few inches below Lukas. Lukas remembered the shorter from the grocery store incident. He knows the tall one as Mathias's younger brother and met him a few times in the past. Lukas let the two inside. Berwald carried a gift in each hand while Tino lugged in a whole bag full. Lukas would've been happy to help, but Tino seemed happy to carry in the large bag.

With the two came their son who quickly ran over to join the other three children. Lukas smiled to himself as he watched the four play their own made up game together. The inspiration of kids always shocked Lukas, as he could never have thought up the same things as they could. He always found himself at loss when a child would bring him an ordinary object and imagine it's a magical item that could do wonderful things.

Soon the clock struck twelve and the families gathered around the Christmas tree. Lukas decided to do an American styled Christmas this year in order to avoid clashing family traditions. He felt rather proud when he managed to set up the tree without having to call up Mathias's American friend Alfred. After that he was lost and ended up getting help from the obnoxious boy. Oh how he wished he already knew what to do. Of course he tried to follow what normally happened, but some parts, like the early morning gift unraveling, had to be changed.

The four children searched the gifts to find the ones given to each child. Lukas bought one gift per child but he couldn't say exactly how many came from the other adults. Mathias probably spoiled the kids with more than two. Of course Tino has a bag full, but the ones inside are probably evenly split between him and Berwald. It held less than it appeared so it's probably one from each. And of course there are the presents for the adults. The majority of those are most likely drawings made by the kids.

It turns out Mathias gave each child three. Two were labelled _From Mathias_ and the third comes from Santa.

Berwald and Finland are a middle class family so they were able to buy things like tablets and video game consoles.

Lukas lives a poor life so he planned to take Emil to the pet shop. He also hoped to take Aggi and Piloqutinnguaq, but they will receive toys if Mathias doesn't approve. When he told them this Aggi and Pilo immediately began to beg Mathias to go.

"We've never had a pet before. It'll be fun!" Aggi argued. Despite only being six, she could always make good points.

Mathias nodded to himself. He seemed to process what his children said before reaching a conclusion.

"Alright." Mathias said with a smile. "But only one for both of you to share."

Aggi and Pilo excitedly thanked their dad. Both quickly made their way to Lukas and pulled him out of his seat.

"Come on Mommy. Let's go before they run out of pets." Pilo said. He's the most excited of the siblings.

Lukas was in shock at the word _mommy._ He glanced at Mathias, who held a bit of sadness in his eyes. And it finally hit Lukas. After months of wondering why Mathias's wife never came over. Whether she left him or died, there is no longer wife for him or mother to his children.

* * *

 _Huge thanks to Dreams-Wishes-Hopes for being the first to review. You don't realize how excited I was when I found out about someone leaving a review and then finding out they're really nice ones._

 _Yes, I know that Norway is pretty much the richest of the Nordics. But I feel like he would be a bit on the poor side in a human AU while Finland and Sweden are middle class when combining their money. Plus, Finland is depicted as Santa so it makes sense he could afford modern day things in a human AU._

 _I decided to bring in Faroe Islands and Greenland. Aggi is represents the Faroes while Piloqutinnguaq is Greenland. Pilo is a nickname that you all can use because it's very hard to pronounce. I wrote this and I still don't know how the name is pronounced._

 _And now you know that Norway and Denmark don't have wives anymore. I'll might bring up the topic again in the future just know that the waifu is gone and the DenNor is going to happen very soon._

 _See you next chapter!  
 **{ APH-DONUTS}**_


	5. Chapter 5

Emil excitedly entered the pet shop. The almost two hours leading up to arriving here had been mostly uneventful. He would often stare at the clock as he waited until Lukas called him, Aggi, and Pilo to the car. But before they had left the house, Aggi hurriedly brought Mathias over. The grown man became a bright red, stuttering mess as he tried to get make words to properly leave his house. Aggi seemed to know what's happening. She tugged on Lukas's sleeve and looked him in the eye.

"My daddy wants to be your boyfriend." She said. Mathias became a smiling, bright red mess when Lukas shyly scooted over and intertwined their fingers.

Emil smiled wide. He knew this would be the only way to finally keep Mathias.

"Does this mean we can keep him?" Emil asked excitedly as he danced around his dad and Mathias.

His dad nodded. Emil's smile widened slightly and he began to clap loudly.

Lukas smiled one of his rare smiles. He let go of Mathias only to grab hold of Pilo and Emil.

"Now let's go get you guys that pet."

Mathias stayed at their home to keep Berwald, Tino, and Peter company. The other four spent their time searching the pet shop for pets they may want. First up went Emil. He immediately wandered to the bird aisle. For a long while Emil has wanted a pet puffin for himself. Why not try to get one now? Of course he didn't immediately find one. It took several minutes to search every bird cage until his luck came into view. On one of the higher shelves is a puffin in its assigned cage. Lukas quickly found a worker to retrieve the black and white bird. Within ten minutes Emil had the cage up to his plump face. He tried to pet it but the bird always got away.

Next up are Aggi and Pilo. They decided up a dog as their companion. But only a small one. One that is ready to play but isn't too big.

"One the size of Pilo when he was born." Aggi decided.

Pilo looked at her curiously. His eyes held the question.

"Like this big." Aggi said as she put her hands into place.

The Kohler siblings are about three years apart. Emil constantly had a hard time remembering Pilo's birthday, so he couldn't say exactly how old Aggi had been when Pilo was born. All he could remember is the year changing like three times by then. Of course Emil had been born before Pilo, but he hadn't known their family at the time.

"Oh look here." Aggi said, breaking into Emil's thoughts.

She stood with her face pressed against the cage of a golden dog. It's about the size of a human baby and is probably done growing. It's cheerful compared to other dogs in the same cage.

"The fur matches daddy's hair!" Pilo exclaimed.

Pilo and Aggi shared a glance. They looked back at Lukas, who then went for a worker to get the pet.

* * *

 _Ah I can't thank you guys enough for the reviews. Thank you so much for reading and reviewing._

 _This one has the DenNor in it. It arrived in only five chapters. This'll probably be a really short fanfiction compared to most other ones. It'll last like five more chapters at the most if I keep it going at this pace._

 _I know that a pet shop wouldn't normally sell a puffin. How else is Emil going to get Mr. Puffin in a human AU though? He can't just go out in the wild and capture one. Or can he? Is that even legal? Oh, by the way, there are multiple dogs in that cage thing. The cage itself could probable fit like eight dogs, so it's rather large. I've been to a pet shop but not to get a dog so please correct me if that's not what they do with 'em._


	6. Chapter 6

Mathias's eyes lit up when his children came back with a puppy. It happily jumped out of the box carrier and ran everywhere it could fit. It sniffed everyone and everything it could get its nose near. Emil's cat Mil came to sniff the new pet before he ran away in fear of the newbie. Berwald made the joke of Mathias and the dog as twins reuniting after being forced apart at birth. Tino, Aggi, and Pilo chased the dog around in attempt to get it in one spot. Emil and Lukas became occupied with trying to keep Mr. Puffin from knocking things down. Emil pretended he knows what the bird is squawking about while Lukas tried to direct him to his cage. Berwald and Mathias eventually decided to get off their lazy bums so they could help get each pet stable.

Everything came to a sudden halt half an hour later. The sound of the doorbell echoed throughout the house. No one else had been invited to this year's Christmas celebration. Lukas came to the conclusion of it being Alfred coming to check if everything was correct. With that in mind, Lukas made his way to the front door. But Alfred was somehow already inside. Perhaps the door got unlocked during the commotion?

"Hey Alfred!" Mathias called from down the hall. His head and part of his upper body could be seen popping out of the wall. His cheerful smile still painted on his face.

"Hello dudes! How are you enjoying an American Christmas?" Alfred asked, totally oblivious to the fact that Lukas is standing next to him.

"Yeah, I was about to serve the cookies." Lukas murmured so the kids wouldn't hear. Alfred smiled his way to the kitchen

"Dude, your house is way small. Shouldn't there be stairs?"

Lukas ignored the comment in out of shyness. The American always found ways to get someone to crawl into a shell. He's really nice to be people he's not close with but also very obnoxious towards most people, purposely or not. Many wished he was nice to everyone's space, including Lukas.

Lukas made his way to the fridge, where he pulled out a tray of green and red Christmas cookies.

"Cookies!" Mathias exclaimed when he laid eyes upon the colored sprinkles. Like a kid he sprang off of the couch to the table. "How many do we get?" He asked, almost as if he never had cookies in his life. Lukas sighed. The man he's finally dating is a giant dork. _His_ dork.

Everyone else arrived soon after, also asking how many were allowed to have. The four children asked many times over.

"Three each." Lukas replied before his brain could explode.

Lukas stole a glance out the window. One more thing that could make this a Christmas movie is snow. To his surprise, it had been snowing for the past few minutes by the looks of it. He kept it to himself until enough snow piled up. Mathias had been the first to respond to the rain of white.

"Ah! There's so much of it. It stretches as far as I can see." He explained excitedly.

"What're you, a puppy? There's no need to get so excited." Lukas said with a monotone voice. He kept his amusement deep within him.

"You don't get to see snow this often." Mathias replied.

Lukas let out another. The best way to spend Christmas is with your dorkish puppy boyfriend.

* * *

 _After that first paragraph I started thinking of ways to kill Denmark. Is he going to get in a car crash? Will he get shot by being in the wrong place? Does he get pushed out of a window? I didn't think that on purpose though. It's must be a common thing to think about the death of a preCIOUS DANE._

 _This might be the last chapter. I didn't plan on this being so short but, hey, not everything goes your way. I just don't want to end up with some Deadmark. I'm trying so hard to not plan it._

 _But don't worry! I'm currently thinking about doing an actor AU or Gakuen Hetalia fanfiction after this. Hopefully they won't be as short as Groceries turned out to be. Send me some headcanons/imagines for that and I'll combine them with my own to write something. I'm also thinking about doing some Hetalia drabbles so that you guys will have something to read while I plan and update the others._

 _See you next time!  
 **{APH-DONUTS}**_


	7. Chapter 7

Two years passed before Lukas and Emil moved into Mathias's house. It's about the same size as their own, maybe a tad bit larger. There is a small basement, at least when compared to their old one. It has a cozy front room and is family friendly overall. There's a large enough eating and cooking space. The house has two children's bedrooms. Aggi and Pilo sleep in the same room while the free one is used as more of a study place. The master bedroom is almost twice as large as the other two, but half of it is the only other bathroom in the house. The first separates the two children's bedrooms.

The house was built out in the countryside. Mathias made part of his income by selling fresh food to stores. The rest of his money came from teaching at the nearby school fifteen miles away. He said he originally worked as a doctor, but it was so he could save enough money to pay to build this house with his wife. He went back to college to get his teaching degree, got a teaching job, and quit the hospital.

Several animals live on the farm. The sheep are mainly a wool source, but their meat will occasionally be eaten or sold to a store that wants it. Mathias sells colored yarn from sheep's wool during garage sells when certain colors aren't being used for long periods of time. Berwald will occasionally take home wool when he comes to visit.

Emil's mood lifted when he found out about the two horses they keep.

"The girl's name is Fawn and she's going to have babies soon. That's whys she's so fat." Aggie said the day Lukas and Emil finished moving in.

"Can I ride the other horse?" Emil asked.

"If Daddy lets you."

* * *

Lukas couldn't believe what he was looking at only after a year of living in the house. He tried so hard not to cry as he hugged Mathias tightly. He knew this would happen eventually, he knew it with come, but he still wasn't mentally prepare. The only thing he could do was nod because the tears had began to flow. Mathias let out a relieved laugh as he wrapped his arms around his fiancée.

"Yes." Lukas finally replied. "I would always say yes."

"Thank you Lukas." Mathias whispered. "Thank you for making this the best Christmas of my life."

Lukas nodded again. "You're welcome."

Mathias pushed away to put the ring onto Lukas's finger.

"I will love you forever and always."

* * *

 _I know I said chapter six would be the last one, but I couldn't stay away from this story haha._

 _I felt like I was killing Denmark in that last part. I actually_ was _trying to make it seem like he's dead but_ _holy buttholes it was hard to make that believable when he isn't. Maybe I'll write an alternate ending in my World Drabbles. We shall see._

 _See you there!  
 **{APH-DONUTS}**_


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